You're Me - Plant Cell Division

You're Me - Plant Cell Division
Salt Spring Island is the jewel of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. It's historically been a place of refuge, most recently for draft dodgers fleeing the US during the Vietnam war. Now, Salt Spring is a granola hippie outpost and a haven for artists, a leafy getaway immersed in nature but still accessible from the larger centres around it. This is where You're Me recorded their debut album, Plant Cell Division, and you can hear Salt Spring in its unfussy grooves, babbling like a backyard creek. The tape is among the more striking releases on 1080p in some time, combining the label's love of relaxing new age and ambient with the Vancouver region it calls home.

You're Me is Yu Su and Scott Johnson Gailey, two emerging Vancouver artists. Su, in addition to being a great DJ and crate digger, made her production debut earlier this year with an album of fogged-up grooves for Genero. Gailey is part of Juniper Systems, a house act that also made a recent production debut. The pair even each other out. Su's meandering is grounded by Gailey's percussive sensibilities, while she works to space out his rhythms. Their record isn't for the dance floor, nor is it entirely downtempo or ambient. It's more like a pastoral take on the deep techno of Silent Season, a label that reflects the gorgeous natural landscape of British Columbia.

The first half of Plant Cell Division plays with percussive templates. "ilu" is marked by Su's typically heatsick style: the gentle drums hang together loosely, rattling around like loose pebbles. On "Applet W," the duo mix misty morning pads with a broken dub techno beat, and on "Oot Re Mi," they nervously approach the dance floor. The track's percolating rhythm lunges forward as if the producers couldn't keep hold of it. That quality is one of the most appealing aspects of You're Me. There's an unpolished simplicity to how they write songs, with elements that poke out of the mix. The rough basslines on "Applet W" almost upend the otherwise peaceful feeling; boxy drums beat underneath the drizzle of "Loi," pounding some shape into it. Such elements make Plant Cell Division feel more purposeful than a collection of impromptu jams.

On "Oot Re Mi," however, the slowly deflating outro catches the ear more than the heavier beat-driven passages. You're Me are strongest at their most relaxed, and they dole out melody with a short attention span, like they're daydreaming as they play. Take "Lucidity": the dubby waves of sound feel like they're washing right through your fingers. On other songs, like "Walled Garden," Su and Gailey tap into a zen mindset that feels native to the Pacific Northwest. It's a pleasantly droning compositional style that the duo share with local acts like Loscil, where expansive chords and enveloping drums are paired with deep, earthy rhythms. So much of the music from this area is inextricable from its surroundings, and You're Me is no different.